Talk About Screwed Up Priorities

Friday, the House passed Cap and Trade legislation which even President Obama says will “necessarily” raise our energy expenses, despite our current economic worries. Iran, one of the biggest threats to our national security, has people still protesting on the streets and is on the brink of revolution still. And the lead story this weekend?

Michael Jackson died. Talk about screwed up priorities.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sorry to see his death. I’m sorry to hear of Farrah Fawcett’s death as well, after a brave and almost legendary battle with cancer. Without Fawcett’s smile or Jackson’s music, the world may seem a little less interesting.

However, regardless of what your stance on cap and trade, Friday was a banner day. If you believe that global warming will destroy humanity, then you probably have an opinion on legislation like this. If you believe that global warming is crap, same thing. But instead, one of the big stories on WALB Friday was how FYE at the mall was out of all of Michael Jackson’s CD’s and videos. Yeah…that’s pressing news.

For the record, I don’t fault the mainstream media on this one. No, they’re simply running the stories that people want. What’s sad is that people are more interested in the passing of a bizarre, but undeniably talented, man like Jackson than legislation that will impact each and every one of them.

Bill O’Reilly, who I personally am annoyed by a great deal, refers to himself as a “culture warrior”, and is right that much of our nations problems rest in our culture. On pretty much everything else, I tend to disagree. Our culture is what has directed our nation toward where we are at now. Our culture is what has propped Paris Hilton up as a celebrity and made Michael Jackson’s death more important than not only Farah Fawcett’s, but also such massive legislation as cap and trade.

I’ve argued before that we need a fundamental shift in the culture of America, and the past weekend has done nothing to change that. In fact, I think it’s now more essential. Unfortunately, I’ve got nothing that would help lead us in that direction. We can’t force people to care about their nation. We can’t force them to give a damn about their own freedom. We can’t force them to even care about their own money and why they’ll have to spend more of it.

We can’t force people to care, but we need them to. However, there’s a great deal of hope. For example, talk to people in Albany about the sign ordinance. They have an opinion. Talk to them about downtown redevelopment, and chances are they have an opinion. If they have an opinion on these things, they can develop caring about other levels of politics.

And let’s hope they do. After all, even if Congress followed the Constitution, we will still have a ruling class in this nation. That class is those of us who show up on election day. We who care are still the ultimate authority in this country, and not just Albany.